Kirsten Gillibrand

I fully support your decision; however, I am concerned that you provided C-130 aircraft back to units as predominantly back-up aircraft.

What is the status of the provisions implementation and why has it taken DOD so long to ensure our National Guard members are protected under this law?

There is not a climate by which they can receive justice in the system.

General Welsh, is the Air Force considering an incentive pay system that helps in the retention of military members with high-level cyber skill sets?

What is the Air Force doing to recruit the best and brightest cyber talent?

Do you believe this lack of resources will hurt unit morale?

I believe--and this is what victims have told us time and time again--that it is why they do not report.

Leveraging citizen soldiers who work in the cyber industry every day and also serve their country in uniform through the National Guard and Reserve is imperative.

If one in five women say they are serving in the military and they are receiving unwanted sexual contact, that is a huge problem regardless of what you are looking at in the public sector.

I think it is very different in the military. I think you are precisely wrong about that.

Imagine you are the assaulted victim who has just gone through a trial and because a commanding officer has said let us overturn the jury's verdict, you then have to salute the person who assaulted you.

I am highly concerned that so few victims feel that they could ever receive justice that they will not report.

You said that you believe the chain of command needs to retain its authority to make determinations of whether or not a sexual assault charge should go to trial because you believe that that authority is necessary to maintain good order…

You have to remove it from the chain of command.

We are not taking away the commander's authority over almost everything else.

If the man in charge for the Air Force in preventing sexual assault is being alleged to have committed a sexual assault this weekend, obviously there is a failing in training and understanding.

U.S. strategic deterrence promotes global stability.

The 2010 Nuclear Posture Review confirmed the enduring requirements to maintain a secure and survivable sea-based deterrent.

Long term, the Navy needs a minimum of 12 SSBNs to provide a survivable force and meet Commander, STRATCOM, requirements.

A survivable deterrent retains the ability to conduct an assured retaliatory response even after being attacked.

For more than 50 years, the Navy's ballistic missile submarine force has provided the most survivable leg of the Nation's strategic nuclear deterrent triad.

I am drafting legislation that will remove the initial disposition authority from commanding officers and put it in the hands of experienced military prosecutors.

Secretary McHugh, will you make these metrics available to our military communities so that they can understand your decisions?

That is unacceptable. The men and women who serve in our Armed Forces are the military's most precious resource.

I am committed to ending the violent crime of sexual assault among those in uniform.